This is an inexpensive softcover notebook with 240 A5 pages of cream colour paper with a grey graph paper ruling. Despite the modest price, it is very well made, and the paper is definitely superior to that of many well-hyped notebooks.
The secret, if there is one, is that it’s a refill for a leather journal. Although the journal seemed ho-hum to me, the refill was a great find.
Clairefontaine novelty pencil
Readers of this blog know that we like the serious stuff, and don’t typically mention novelty or advertising pencils. But we’ll make an exception for this pencil from Clairefontaine, possibly (probably?) made in Japan. It matches a Clairefontaine notebook set.
Give us more!
Remake Mini Notebook – Cool Retro Style.
I saw a picture of this notebook at Notebookism, and decided to order one.
It’s great! It’s a heavy duty cardboard cover, with sewn pages from a variety of reused paper sources, heavy on the graph paper and accounting styles. It fastens with a rubber band.
I keep a Zebra mechanical pencil clipped to it, which makes the notebook very usable.
As a pocket notebook, it’s more portable than almost any alternative I’m aware of. It’s not for writing several paragraphs, but it’s great for jotting down an address, or a film or train schedule.
I love the way it pays homage to the paper working tools of the past – several types of composition, graph, and accounting paper.
Link: Remake Etsy shop
World’s Best Pencil – Guatanteed.
The Dixon Ticonderoga is a staple. It’s one of the oldest and most distinguished names in the American pencil industry. It’s also now made in China.
Some fear a decline in quality. But what are they worried about? Check the back of the package:
Kum Automatic Longpoint Sharpener
The Kum Automatic Longpoint Sharpener (Automatic Langkonus Spitzer in German) is definitely known on the net. It’s often touted as being one of the best sharpeners made today.
After trying it myself, I felt that what I had previously read and heard didn’t really communicate how the Longpoint works. I doubt I’m alone, so with the help of a picture or two, I hope to clarify matters.
The sharpener is an oval prism container, with two externally accessible holes. It comes with two spare blades tucked into a corner of the container. This is a very nice touch. I’ve never seen a spare sharpener blade for sale at an art supply store or stationer, and it’s nice to see a sharpener given a longer life with this addition.
Let’s get to the sharpening method. The left hole has a exit diameter of about 2mm, which is the diameter of the pencil lead or core. Thus the blade catches and sharpens the wood of a standard pencil, but misses the core. (See photo.) The pencil is then placed in the second hole, where the lead gets sharpened to a very fine point.
So when I saw this, all I thought was that this looks like the way pencils were sharpened a few years ago. Essentially, the angle of the point produced by sharpeners has been increasing over the years. If you like this very sharp point, and don’t mind the extra work of the dual sharpening, this may be the product for you.
One other thing to consider is that this sharpener is quite wasteful, and discards more of your pencil’s core than a standard modern sharpener. Recalling high school geometry, the formula for the volume of a cylinder is
V = ?r2h
and the formula for the volume of a cone is
V = 1/3?r2h
so turning a cylinder of lead into a cone of lead discards 2/3 of that lead.
For a 2mm lead, the radius is 1mm. The Longpoint produces a point of 3mm, so we have
V = ?*1mm2*3mm = 9.4mm2 will result in 6.3mm2 discarded to create a 3.1mm2 point.
A point which will be much harder to keep unbroken, by the way.
A more modest 2mm long point would produce only 4.2mm2 of waste.
The 2/3 of the lead discarded in making a point actually could be an argument in favour of mechanical pencils.
I’m sticking with regular sharpeners, but it’s nice to know about this alternative.
Nightjar Books found paper notebook
This is a notebook made from found and reused paper. It’s an absolute delight because of the whimsical paper choices – the pages have surprise bits of poems and illustrations.
There is a downside – it falls into the category of being so nice that you don’t want to use it. And since it’s one of a kind, it won’t be possible to replace it. I admit that I haven’t yet marked it.
Although I bought this at a local craft fair, Nightjar have an Etsy store where you can see some of their products.